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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
2
Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
3
Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
4
My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
5
The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
They should run in Hawaiian shirts !!
I was running in Kona and realized that the road I was on was one that I had seen on TV during the marathon.
Kona Underpants Run
Meeting the oldest competitor…what an inspiration!
Swimming with the turtles.
The beautiful blue sea!
Macca’s second championship!
Gotta go with the underpants run on this one
Talking to my boss about when he competed at Kona.
Tracking friends online as they raced Kona!
Flying kinda -over- Hawaii this weekend. Does that count? My only real Kona memory is introducing myself to a fellow rider I didn’t recognise on a group ride a while back, and ask him his name, and if he races (because he seems pretty quick on the bike), and he introduces himself as Joe, and says, yep, he came top 20 in his last race. That’s pretty good, I said, until a minute later, someone else tells me that little race just happened to be Kona… and that it was Joe Gambles I was talking to…
Yellow
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Seeing the helicopters approach over pros returning from Hawi. That’s when I really appreciated I was in the same race
Pineapples and hula skirts! Clearly never visited : )
Favorite Kona memory: Watching the ironman live stream for three+ hours last year waiting for all of my friends to cross the finish line.
Macca vs Raelert…
Pineapples and hula skirts! Clearly never visited : )
I once knew a lady who took 18th in her age group at Kona.
Living vicariously through my friends by listening to them talking about their Kona experiences!
I got in to tri after watching the IM WC. So stoked for Saturday.
Watching Chrissie Wellington smash the race over and over again :)
Watching the inspirational personal stories during the recorded airing!
Seeing the eventual winner reduced to walking and then doubled over hands on knees last year. Twice! Epic and perversely made me want to try
Go Rinnie!
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Watching documentaries hoping to one day qualify to compete myself!
Lets try this again….
Luke McKenzie’s bike:
link to slowtwitch.com
The Bike-Porn comment completely sums this up!
Sign me up to win for a late birthday present!
Watching Kona as a kid originally sparked my interest in triathlon!
Faris al-Sultan waving the bavarian flag
Watching Macca and Chrissie
Plumeria shirts. and more Plumerias.
Got married in Kona! Paid for entire trip using miles and points. This was back when I only ran when being chased and only rode a bike when the car was broken down. Wish I knew then what I know now.
My only Kona memory is watching a guy at a triathlon expo demo the Kona course on the Computrainer. Not the most impressive memory.
Tracking good buddies racing Kona IM!
watching the midnight finishers on all the reruns.
Doing the race in 2011. Hope I do we’ll tomorrow.
Not many people know that, but next to the Ironman – Big Island gives home to one of the best coffee-beans: link to en.wikipedia.org greate stuff! both, Ironman and Hawaiian coffee ;-)
Watching Chrissie Wellington power through the pain of injuries to win.
black sand beach!
I remember being a young person (in Hawaii) and my parents telling me about the Iron Man championship and what it entailed for the first time. I was rather unimpressed at 6 years old.
I hope to go to Hawaii one of these days.
Staring out at the Pacific from my second story balcony watching kitesurfers cutting through the choppy waters of the late afternoon trade winds with someone playing bagpipes in the background…very surreal.
following the festivities next year (knowing that I only missed it by 59 sec.) is motivating for next season :)
Hi,
Hawaii for me is palmtrees and sandy beaches…mmmmm…summer…
//Peter
We stayed in Kona when my husband proposed.
I proposed in Kona – 10 years ago!
I’ve never heard of Kona… So I am not qualified here.
Love your awesome work.
Time to train seriously …even under the rain !!!
Is Chrisie defending this year?
Never been to Kona (yet), but Maui 5x. Love running the beaches through Wailea and Kihei!
Pierre Protz: Best Kona moment. Peter Reid and Lori Bowden winning Kona Ironman in 98 and 99 respectively. What makes this so good? Their Canadian.
Shaved ice after a day at the beach!
I loved watching the race’s live stream when Macca won.
Watching a good friend finish in 2010 and the sheer joy of completing that epic event.
Iron War! Kona ’89. Heading to Hawaii for the first time in 2 weeks to make some memories of my own at Xterra.
The crazy winds in the bike at Hawaii 70.3 this year.
When Crowie broke the course record last year.
Hearing about a Navy Seal buddy of my basically walking into a Kona entry and doing pretty well.
Read Iron War–an excellent account of the Scott-Allen race in ’89.
Chrissie Wellington – any time she races. AMAZING!
Black sand beach.
Kona = Keeping us old folks motivated to race with the youngsters!
Watching the race with envy!
My favorite Kona memory is standing on the Queen Lili highway while on vacation in the middle of the lava fields and feeling the sun and wind beet on me. Couldn’t imagine doing an IM in those conditions.
Welschy for the win started a lifelong passion.
Best Kona memory for me was the first time I tuned in and saw my first Ironman Championship. It was amazing – brought me to the sport I love!
This watch is too big for my wrist but I still want to take my chances.
No contest.
Ironwar.
The phenomenal Dave Scott vs Mark Allen. The greatest race of all time. Just mind blowing.
Triathlon’s answer to Sugar Ray-Duran or Ali-Frasier.
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Best Kona memory: getting lost on a training run at the Mauna Lani resort. I missed my turn on the beach and ended up in Puako 2.5 mi. North on the Queen K with an empty water bottle. Luckily the nice folks at the fire house didn’t mind me filling up from their spigot which was enough to get me back home after the 5 mile detour.
Jason
I tried to watch the recap with my mom once… Instead of feeling inspired by the older participants, she got really pissed that someone would do something so “age inappropriate” and walked out…
I remember watching the live stream while trying to work last year. It was a surprisingly unproductive day.
Best Kona memory hasn’t come yet. I’ll get there though.
Last year was watching the race online, and in other screen the timings. À friend of mine was competing, this was the way to keep up to date, as hè came never on THE live streaming.
Tracking local athletes online as they raced Kona!
maca’s 2nd win.
I stayed in Kona a few years ago on a family holiday.
Best memories – coming through the airport with my bike bag and being asked if I was there for the ironman (I wasn’t)
-jumping in at White Sands Beach for some bodysurfing.
Worst memories – being unable to fit my bike bag in the rented car at the airport and having to tie it onto the car’s roof
-getting dumped at White Sands Beach and tearing my infraspinatus.
Hawaii makes training enjoyable for me all year around
At least, it would be good to let the watch live in France ! ;)
I visited Hawaii when I was 11. I’d like to go back with my wife.
My best Kona memory is still to come… I’ll enjoy the show on my computer one more time this year. I hope I will see that magical island before my death !
Watching the live last year with all the telemetry on my laptop was a sports geek paradise
Mountain biking down Haleakala
Never been, but gonna be updating results all night. Go Rasmus in your last race.
Seeing John Blazeman ROLL….May he rest in peace.
Last year it was spectacular watching Latvian Rinalds Sluckis to perform in Kona for the first time and reaching a decent position among the age groupers.
Queen K highway… watching the bikes on tv and somehow feeling the heat
Last year, Crowie cramping up and sticking it out to break the course record.
Magnum and Higgins
Googling Kona, and finding out that there is a new awesome crowdsourced site for finding photos from endurance events via this site!
Watch Mr.Alexander win the event.
I read about Jonas Colting, Swedish super-triathlete, about not finishing last year’s race. Too bad he will not compete this year, would have been a good comeback I think.
Doing sport on Hawaii, that’s what I’m dreaming of…far away in europe. Have fun there…
Imagine an Ironman in Kona with all the athletes wearing a wreath of flowers draped around the neck!!
always love seeing people right in front of the sweeper, coming in at midnight
The dream of some time doing the Kona Ironman!
Watching the 2011 champs inspired me to do my first ironman, completed it in 2012